A few observations: the viewfinder is an electronic viewfinder and it is not a real high resolution viewfinder, so some graininess is to be expected. You can improve things by adjusting the diopter wheel for best quality. In case you are not familiar with it, it is the little wheel to the side of the viewfinder. Enjoy your new camera. It is a fine camera. I have one and enjoy it immensely.

Thanks for the info on the viewfinder, but I think I will exchange the camera.Â* It's very hard to see at all through the viewfinder, and since we bought the camera for a trip to Africa, we need to be able to see what we are shooting.Â* Also, we will use rechargeable batteries but I had the alkaline ones in for learning the camera, and after only about two hours of messing around, the red battery light is on. Â* Â*Hopefully this is just a defective camera since we really like this model.

Unfortunately, electronic viewfinders are becoming the norm on digital cameras. Some cameras do away with viewfinders entirely and rely upon the LCD for viewing and focusing. The viewfinder on the Z6 is average quality. I am surprised that you are having trouble seeing your subject with the Z6 viewfinder. I have no trouble in the bright California sun at the beach. As far as batteries are concerned, I am using rechargeables and have gotten 300 pics from one set of 2500 batteries. This is with minimal LCD use and flash only once in a while, in the space of a couple of days. Remember the rechargeables self-discharge just sitting. Also it generally takes a couple of uses and recharges to get the batteries up to full capacity. In any event, good luck on whatever you decide.

Your EVF should have a brightness adjustment in the menu, which may need to be set. Alkaline batteries don't last as long as good rechargeable NIMH, because the voltage decreases more over time. The camera is sensing the lower voltage and indicating low battery even though there is very likely nearly half the capacity remaining. Two hours of 'messing around' with new cam is equivalent to a lot of picture taking. Learning the new camera always uses up battery faster. It doesn't sound as if the camera is defective. Perhaps your expectations are a little high.

Actually, alkalines will give you the "low battery" warning much sooner because although they start at a higher voltage than rechargeables (1.5 vs. 1.25 volts), they don't have anywhere near the current capacity of rechargeables. The camera draws a lot of current running the display, powering the sensor, and writing to a card, and while rechargeables will handle it with no problem (as will lithium AA cells), alkalines' voltage will be drawn down by the load. It will recover, but as voltage decreases a bit after several shots, each subsequent shot will temporarily draw voltage down to what the camera senses as "low," and you get the indication.

Take those alkalines out, though, and they will power a clock, radio, flashlight, etc. for quite a while.